Three days. Not much time to soak in a city's soccer culture. But this is New York City. And it helps that I'm at the apartment of Soccer America columnist Paul Gardner. He started covering Big Apple sports in 1961, when he wrote about the Roger Maris-Mickey Mantle pursuit of Babe Ruth's 60-home run record for The Observer.

The rusting, gray Commodore Barry Bridge overlooked PPL Park, wind whirled on the pitch, and patches of ice bobbed along the recently melted Delaware River as members of the Sons of Ben -- the Philadelphia Union's riverfront supporters section -- banged their drums. And banged their drums. And banged their drums.

The Professional Futsal League (PFL) is slated to launch in November 2016. Keith Tozer, who has been the U.S. national futsal team coach since 1996, serves as PFL commissioner and explains how the venture is unfolding and why he believes the USA is ready for professional futsal.

Through the first nine weeks of the 2015 MLS season, total viewership is up on the three television networks as compared to last season. But what is most encouraging to MLS is that the gains in the first year of the new eight-year agreement with its television partners are even greater in the key 18-49 adults demo -- the most important demo networks use to evaluate their MLS numbers and go out and sell their MLS broadcasts to advertisers.